CESARE MAGGI (1881–1962)
The Levanna centrale (3,619 m -11,873ft)
France- Italy border
In Dintorni di Ceresole Reale, oil on canvas
The mountain
The Levanna centrale (3,619 m -11,873ft) is a mountain of Grian Alps at the border between Savoy(France) and Piedmonte (IOtazly) . The Levanna consists of three vertices connected by the same ridge: the western Levanna (3,593 m - 11,794ft) ), the central Levanna ((3,619 m -11,873ft) and the eastern Levanna (3,555 m- 11, 663ft)). From the Italian side, Levanna overlooks the Lanzo Valley and the Orco Valley; from the French side, it dominates Maurienne.
Ceresole Reale occupies the upper Orco Valley, which separates the Gran Paradiso massif from the Levanna Massif. It reaches its maximum altitude at the highest point of this last massif, Levanna Centrale. It is bordering on the east with the municipality of Noasca, in the south with that of Groscavallo, both in the province of Turin (Piedmont), in the west with the French municipalities of Val d'Isère and Bonneval-sur-Arc and in the North with the towns of Rhêmes-Notre-Dame and Valsavarenche, in the Aosta Valley. The Nivolet pass (2,612 m), on the territory of the municipality and at the limit of the Aosta Valley, is accessible by the SP50 road, which, in about twenty kilometers, crosses an altitude difference of nearly 1,000 m, but do not go down to the Aosta Valley.
The Levanna centrale (3,619 m -11,873ft) is a mountain of Grian Alps at the border between Savoy(France) and Piedmonte (IOtazly) . The Levanna consists of three vertices connected by the same ridge: the western Levanna (3,593 m - 11,794ft) ), the central Levanna ((3,619 m -11,873ft) and the eastern Levanna (3,555 m- 11, 663ft)). From the Italian side, Levanna overlooks the Lanzo Valley and the Orco Valley; from the French side, it dominates Maurienne.
Ceresole Reale occupies the upper Orco Valley, which separates the Gran Paradiso massif from the Levanna Massif. It reaches its maximum altitude at the highest point of this last massif, Levanna Centrale. It is bordering on the east with the municipality of Noasca, in the south with that of Groscavallo, both in the province of Turin (Piedmont), in the west with the French municipalities of Val d'Isère and Bonneval-sur-Arc and in the North with the towns of Rhêmes-Notre-Dame and Valsavarenche, in the Aosta Valley. The Nivolet pass (2,612 m), on the territory of the municipality and at the limit of the Aosta Valley, is accessible by the SP50 road, which, in about twenty kilometers, crosses an altitude difference of nearly 1,000 m, but do not go down to the Aosta Valley.
The painter
The italian painter Cesare Maggi was born into a family of actors, Maggi embarked on classical studies at his father’s wish but also took up painting at a very early age His debut in Florence at the Esposizione Annuale della Società di Belle Arti di Firenze in 1898 was followed by a short trip to Paris to catch up with the latest developments.
The crucial turning point in Maggi’s art came in 1889 with the posthumous show of work by Giovanni Segantini held by the Milanese Society of Fine Arts, which prompted a definitive shift to landscape painting of a Divisionist character. After a short stay in the Engadin, he returned to Milan before finally settling in Turin. Commercial collaboration with Alberto Grubicy until 1913 enabled Maggi to establish himself quickly as one of the leading representatives of the second generation of Divisionist painters in Italy. He painted a repertoire of readily comprehensible mountain landscapes focusing primarily on aspects of the visual perception of the reflection of light and colour but lacking the deep spirituality of Segantini’s work. He took part in the major Italian and European exhibitions and the Venice Biennale devoted an entire room to his work at the Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte of Venice in 1912. After an interlude devoted to portrait painting in the same decade, the artist’s mature work focused on greater simplification of subject matter, mostly in landscapes.
Maggi obtained the chair in painting at the Albertina Academy, Turin, in 1936.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau